I think I'm a part of the first generation of journalists to skip print media entirely, and I've learned a lot these last few years at Forbes. My work has appeared on TVOvermind, IGN, and most importantly, a segment on The Colbert Report at one point. Feel free to follow me on Twitter or on Facebook, write me on Facebook or just email at paultassi(at)gmail(dot)com. I'm also almost finished with my sci-fi novel series, The Earthborn Trilogy.

Six Months Later, Google Plus Still Doesn't Add Up

Last year, I wrote a post that made me mildly internet infamous. It was called “A Eulogy for Google Plus,” and it read like a rather lengthy epitaph on the tombstone of the fledgling social network. Even after being a member for months, my newsfeed remained bare, and the desolate experience was shared by nearly all of my friends who attempted to see what the new social site was about.

Upon release of that article, I learned that there was indeed a group of GoogleGoogle Plus faithful, eager to tell me I was “doing it wrong.” Rather, I had to post items publicly, and follow active people in order to get anything out of the experience. Who? Not my friends, as none of them were engaged on the site in the least, so instead the most prolific folks were tech writers, geek celebrities and social media types, who do this sort of thing for a living.

I wrote a follow-up post about my experiences a short while later, but I thought now was the time to revisit my thoughts on the site, quite a bit down the road. Over half a year has gone by since then. I’ve posted nearly every day to my G+ page, and have engaged others in conversation about many a topic. My “circler” count of those following me currently sits at 13,590, dwarfing both my Facebook friends (400) and Twitter followers (1500).

I no longer view Google Plus as a ghost town, that much I can say. It is not dead and doesn’t need another article delivering post-mortem remarks. That said, I still do not believe Google Plus is the social network it needs to be, nor do I believe it will ever pose a significant threat to Facebook in its current form. This news might upset the ten or so people who regularly comment on my G+ posts, some of whom consider me a “convert” seeing as how I do use the site regularly, but my stated belief still stands.

Simply put, Google Plus is a niche community, and it feels like it’s always going to remain that way. Last year, I remarked that nearly none of my real life friends had joined the site. I speculated that perhaps they’d come around as it evolved, but as it stands today, I can’t think of a single one of them who is now active on the site who wasn’t before. But do you know what sites they have joined these past few months? There’s a whole stable of them that are now Pinterest and Instagram fiends, as they found a new sort of social site they enjoyed that was easy to use and understand, and different than their usual Facebook experience.

That was always Google Plus’s problem to me. Though the site may be better designed than Facebook in many ways, and have some better features (yes, hangouts are great), the fact is that it mirrors the functionality of Facebook in almost every way. If the devoted say it doesn’t, at least the perception is that it’s a late-to-the-party version of Facebook that doesn’t offer a significant reason to switch. Some people may be sick of their Facebook friends and want new people to connect with, but the majority are not going to want to ditch a friends list they’ve spent almost a decade amassing. And who has the time to be highly involved in two parallel social networks, especially when one is viewed as being empty at worst or full of strangers at best?

Perception is a big part of the reason why Google Plus continues to be a failure in the eyes of almost everyone who isn’t already an active user. I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve seen jokes on the internet to this day making fun of the site for being empty. If a supposedly tech savvy userbase like Reddit is still actively mocking what’s supposed to be a hip, cool new social network for people like them, is it really communicating its message effectively? What chance does it have to win them over if they’ve botched their first impression this badly?

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Someone still doesn’t get it. Google plus is not Facebook. And Never should be. (And I am upset with some of its recent design changes that attempt to make it more like Facebook.) That is the wrong direction.

I know a few Google plussers who have given up on Facebook. But that is wrong headed. The two serve two very different functions.

Facebook…. friends and family.

Google Plus….the world of people (mostly strangers) who share a common interest. In my case photography. A much more dynamic forum than Flickr.

This last week over two hundred of us finished a month long photo scavenger hunt, posted our works, critiqued and otherwise “Ooooed and Awed over each other’s works. The verbal exchange on some posts maxed out at 500 comments. time and time again. It is dynamic….immediate, and a great form for creator’s of all persuasions.

When I post on Facebook I post to about 700 people I know. When I post on Google Plus, my audience is near 20,000 (and climbing). Granted, I post different works for each site. I am more likely to share family photos on Facebook. It is better for that. At least right now. But if given the option of one or the other I would drop Facebook without thinking. My vital, dynamic world-wide conversations are all over here.

You forgot photographers. I know I’m in the minority, but I do love Plus. Yes, it’s unashamedly like Facebook and Twitter combined but it’s better.

One of the arguments levelled at Google and Google+ these days is that Google has become a big company and lost its start-up spirit of innovation. Yes, Pinterest and Instagram have done great. I can’t help bu feel Google should have got to Instagram before Facebook did and it also tried to but Pinterest), however, Google+ could never have been either of these things. For it to work as Google’s social layer it needed to be like it is – with the traditional profiles, pages etc.

It can and will compete long term with Facebook, as long as Google keeps making acquisitions and making innovations. Quality will win through in the end. Hangouts, instant uploads, circles are all quality innovations and as long as Google stays committed (which it will) it’s really too good to fail. The +1s app was recently added to G+ profiles and I’m sure this will work more like Pinterest in the not too distant future.

I’d be very happy to take a bet with the author as to Google+ reaching 1 billion users by 2020. I think the idea that this will remain a niche product with a few million users is way off the mark over the long term and that competing with Facebook is the much more plausible outcome. Google+ hasn’t even started with getting developers on board yet. Give it time.

I would tend to disagree with you from my experiences. I don’t think that G+ will ever truly compete with Facebook. I was one of those who swapped over to try G+ from Facebook, and I lasted less than a week before I was disgusted with its entire layout and lack of anything constructive happening. I have something close to 800 friends on FB and a small hand full have tried switching, but they are always back with FB within a couple weeks. On top of that, I and a lot like me have huge concerns about privacy with Google. Their intrusive programs and policies, as well as things such as their demands for phone numbers before you can even create an account will cost them users by the thousands if not millions. Until they fix these privacy concerns and re-work their policies to prove they are a company that can be trusted with our private information, I don’t see them expanding beyond what they are now. Frankly, the clock is ticking for them. It’s only a matter of time before something new and big comes out that sends both FB and G+ the way of Myspace , and I think that Google has way too much catching up to do before it arrives.

I totally agree with what you’re saying. And I don’t mean that to disparage G+ in any way. I think it adds its own value to my social media experience.

I’m pretty active on G+ now after an initial failed attempt but I won’t be giving up Facebook for it. I like G+ for the fact that I can engage with people outside of my normal circle of friends. I’m an extrovert…I like to meet new people. But, when it comes to people who are invested in me and my endeavors, Facebook crushes G+. Twitter does too. And it’s not for lack of interacting as some G+ users might suggest. It’s just that Facebook & Twitter offer a different quality of interaction. I just recently started a blog and was looking at traffic over the last few months…Facebook & Twitter run pretty much neck and neck at the top. G+ barely hits the chart. This week, I had more traffic from Polyvore than from G+. I mean…really?

You forgot photographers. I know I’m in the minority, but I do love Plus. Yes, it’s unashamedly like Facebook and Twitter combined but it’s better.

One of the arguments levelled at Google and Google+ these days is that Google has become a big company and lost its start-up spirit of innovation. Yes, Pinterest and Instagram have done great. I can’t help but feel Google should have got to Instagram before Facebook did and it also tried to buy Pinterest), however, Google+ could never have been either of these things. For it to work as Google’s social layer it needed to be like it is – with the traditional profiles, pages etc.

It can and will compete long term with Facebook, as long as Google keeps making acquisitions and making innovations. Quality will win through in the end. Hangouts, instant uploads, circles are all quality innovations and as long as Google stays committed (which it will) it’s really too good to fail. The +1s app was recently added to G+ profiles and I’m sure this will work more like Pinterest in the not too distant future.

I’d be very happy to take a bet with the author as to Google+ reaching 1 billion users by 2020. I think the idea that this will remain a niche product with a few million users is way off the mark over the long term and that competing with Facebook is the much more plausible outcome. Google+ hasn’t even started with getting developers on board yet. Give it time.

1 Billion by 2020? Given that Google is planning on making G+ the hub for Gmail (350 million), Youtube (500 million), Android (200 million), Blogger (?) and all the rest of their products, I’d guess that it has a chance to reach a billion sometime in 2013 just on that combination alone. That doesn’t necessarily mean users will be using G+ socially like FB (that’s a different argument), but they will have accounts.

It’s surprising that people still have any faith in Facebook, which they are ready to condemn every time Facebook changes. And every single mistake Facebook keeps making. It’s riddles with bots and ads and runs like a website still in beta. Even while Google+ was in beta, it was working much smoother, faster, and cleaner than Facebook. The features are far more advanced on Google+, and with 170 million people on Google+ I think it’s far from “Not adding up”. Not to mention that Google+ hasn’t even been public for half a year yet. I was reluctant to move to Facebook when it came out, but I stopped being stubborn and moved over. That’s what’s happening now as well. People are being stubborn but they’ll be curious and move over. Especially with how quickly Google updates their products and adds new features. It will keep outshining Facebook and anyone who doesn’t switch over would be a fool.

We are all aware that its very trendy to compare usage between the social sites these days, but as you keep illustrating, “trendy” and “meaningful” are not always the same. And while we’re all aware some of you just write just to produce something without concern for meaning, it still wouldn’t hurt for you to take at least a few considerations into account. For starters:

You can stop telling us that G+ hasn’t caught up to Facebook. We’re not idiots. But stop acting like anyone expected it would after 8 months of existence. Implying that it should and then blaming it for falling short is insulting. While that approach may be intended to rile up the masses, it really only serves to diminish your credibility among those of us who choose to give it more than a passing thought.

Before going on and on about how G+ is doing, how about figuring out at least some semblance of an objective measuring stick. You don’t seem to have any objective measuring stick at all. We get the feeling that no matter what G+ does, some of you will have a reason to say its failing. It’s been reported over the last month that G+ unique visits have reached just over half of Twitter unique visits…after only 8 months of existence. Are we really supposed to believe that is a sign of failure? What exactly would you need to see inside of 8 months to consider G+ a success thus far? The impression is that you’d simply raise the bar on what is needed to be able to suit your own agenda. Now maybe that’s not true, but your lack of any objective measuring stick sure makes it seem so.

It’s a little ridiculous that you continue to think your usage assessments based on G+ public posts represent total usage. I know less and less people who post publicly on Facebook these days, yet I don’t hear any of you using this barometer to assess its network. In fact, if you looked only at the public posts from many people’s FB circle of friends, many of them would appear to be a ghost town too, but we know that’s not reality. Do you really expect us to believe that no one uses G+ to share privately, especially when many of us do? Posting publicly on a social site might mean something, but its a ridiculously poor method to determine the success or failure of any social network.

What’s with all the usage statistics with the fine print about not including Smart Phone usage? Really? You post about trends and the future of social yet you don’t think leaving out Smart Phone usage significantly skews your assessment. Wow. Google owns the leading Smart Phone operating system and that’s just an afterthought? OK we get it, maybe you don’t have access to that information, but most honest folks refrain from making judgments when they don’t have all the facts. So what’s your reason?

All your drum beating about G+ usage that dismisses usage across all Google products just shows you lack vision, or at least that you don’t seem to want to hear what Google has been telling everyone for the last 8 months. Google is in the slow process of combining all its services into one, and that significantly impacts the future of G+. So while you overlook this and are intent on only analyzing present day G+ usage to make a point, you completely miss the big picture. Would you ever consider reporting on the usage of Facebook games and Facebook messaging separately? Of course not. Yet you can’t seem to grasp that usage across Google products like Gmail and Youtube will be meshed together with G+ in the not too distant future. You won’t even be able to determine the difference, because they will be inseparable. That’s not inside knowledge from Google, that’s what they have been telling us from the moment G+ began…only you had to listen. Yet here you are reporting that Google is misleading you because it has begun to report usage across its products where G+ implementation has begun, a metric Google knows is what matters in the long run. Good grief. If you want to report on something meaningful, understand that although there is a difference today between logging in to any of the array of Google products, in the future there won’t be, and G+ will be the hub of all of them. So while you think your assessment of G+ usage today matters, the real barometer for comparison will be Google usage. Continue to overlook this at your own peril because people will only treat your content seriously for so long.

Your reporting on inactive G+ users to drive home a point is both tiresome and lacking. Its tiresome because you don’t use this barometer to assess any other network (are we to believe no one is inactive on Twitter or Facebook?) But really its lacking because it misses the core strategy that Google has for G+. G+ is not a stand alone product. In fact, Google only needs to have steady growth in total G+ users to establish long term success, regardless of activity. Why? Well consider this example for a moment. If you were a leading manufacturer of GPS devices and wanted to assess your future, you’d obviously be concerned that Smart Phones come with GPS devises built right in. But would it matter less to you if 60% of Smart Phone owners didn’t use those devices? It shouldn’t, because the potential danger is that one day people might think,”Hey, I’m carrying around this phone all day anyway, maybe it makes sense to use this GPS.” So consider then for a moment what it means as Google converts to using G+ as the profile for ALL its products, that means a G+ log-in is your log-in for Gmail, Youtube, Android, etc. Believe it, because Google is planning on it, and most importantly it means that every single user of any Google product will have a G+ account whether its used for social or not. So while you don’t think the danger of every Android user and Youtube user having a G+ account matters, the reality is one day people may think, “Hey, I’m using my Google account for all this other stuff, maybe it makes sense to use it to share.” This is why total account users, even if they are inactive, matter, something you seem to continuously overlook.

That site casts a shadow over Facebook, Twitter, Google, Myspace and all the other sites put together! It has a really well planned layout and is simple to use, plus you don´t get hounded by advertisement.

Great blog, though I tend to agree with Jon’s comment about. I think it’s too early to could Google+ out. And, you forgot the photographers.

I wrote a blog a couple of weeks ago that touched on this subject: http://www.forbes.com/sites/moneywisewomen/2012/04/05/the-secret-of-1000000-followers-karen-huttons-story/. The photographers, while a niche community, have gained a lot of traction, and I think it’s because they got there first.

It’s in my company’s strategic plan to head over to Google+ this year, the sole reason being the hangouts. They are a creative entrepreneurs dream, and I can’t wait to launch.

Facebook is your small your town, Google+ is the big bustling city. Friendships are just a matter of proximity – instead of posting to your friends (Facebook) you find people who post content that excites you and become friends with them. It’s a much more organic progress and more rewarding. In the “city” of Google+ you never feel restricted to be who your friends or family think you “should be.” Nobody knows you, so you can truly be yourself and share and discuss things you are passionate about. Facebook is a chore – Plus for me is a much more fulfilling and rewarding experience. It’s honestly changed my life for the better.

“48 months later (!!), facebook still doesn’t do it for me.” Here’s why:

* You mention how easy it is to work facebook. Have you ever tried deleting your profile picture in facebook? (just as an experiment, you can re-upload it later). If you can do it in less than 10 minutes, you’re a genius.

* I’ve tried playing a few games online, and it was a horrible experience: it was slow, I had to answer questions before I was allowed to play and no matter which game Í played, it kept bugging me about inviting my friends, telling everyone that I was using the game, and even inviting me to purchase stuff on-line. :-?

* The amount of information that I was “giving away” and who was able to read it, was very obscure.

* I tried to delete a few pictures, particularly the personal profile.

* I have no wish to tell anybody the story of my life. Why do I have to keep being bugged about using timeline? Why dont I get an option like: “don’t bug me again with this, I’m never gonna change my mind, and if I do, I’ll let you know”.

* If you’re bilingual, it’s still rather complex to manage which users get your updates in one or the other language. (I don’t want my xxx speaking friends to read what I write in the updates addressed to my xxx speaking friends, for no other reason other than they don’t speak that language, and it’s annoying for them).

* I find the site a bit slow and I’m continually bugged with publicity that I have no interest whatsoever in.

* I can’t remember a single status update that anybody has ever written in facebook which is worth remembering and contained a little bit of depth. (unlike many of the posts that people write in the forums that I read). Sure, superficiality is gaining ground, but what can I say? Twitter + G+ is a better combination for me. ;)

I think Google should have bought Twitter when it had the chance. Too bad. G+ is not huge yet, but there are many people out there who are willing to make the effort.

In my case, Facebook will never be what I want from a social network. G+? perhaps one day…

Many thanks for this, Paul. Like many, I use Google+ only occasionally. Facebook, to me, is far-and-away (still) best in its class, and it is more likely to implode first, like a massive, aging star, before any competitor can come close to outshining it. That said, I think Larry Page’s main intent for G+ wasn’t social media per se, not in the way that Facebook has defined the category, but as another key source of information about us users to add to its already super-massive, well-diversified data. Google’s aim is to be everywhere we are, and the exciting and frightening thing is that it already seems to be everywhere we are: e.g., walking around with us via our Android devices; catching us in compromising positions with Street View; enjoying books, music, art etc. Of course, all of this strengthen its already beast-mode advertising model. In this respect, we know that Facebook (massive site, but limited in scope) can hardly hold a candle to Google. So, bottomline: Mr. Page doesn’t care all that much about G+. Heck, he hardly uses it (lol)!

I’m not sure that that any network will own consumers entire social activity. As they all mature members of each network will engage with individuals and organizations using the most appropriate network [likely the chosen network of the person or company] they want to communicate with.

I do believe that, as it stands, Google Plus has found THE killer social application – and is waiting for everybody else to catch up. I’ve blogged about it here http://ow.ly/alQ4z I’m not saying that other networks won’t catch up, and I do believe that Google should be pushing harder to get people to use it to protect its advantage long-term.

I appreciate your efforts to understand G+. Your article and the many comments generated from it also remind me of the classic parable of the blind men and an elephant which illustrates a range of truths and fallacies.

A group of blind men touch an elephant to learn what it is like. Each one feels a different part, but only one part, such as the tail, trunk, leg, side, etc. They then compare notes and learn that they are in complete disagreement.

I think many who attempt to describe G+ are only describing a part of the elephant and in that regard their personal experience will always be limited to their own perspective. It will always be difficult for others to convince them otherwise.

However, below is a link to an example of some of the other parts of the G+ elephant that students from the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University are using with G+.

Students and I are using G+ as a professional learning, networking, communications and collaboration tool. Teaching teams are simultaneously using Video Hangouts, Live Chat, YouTube, Gmail, Google Docs, Apps, Search, Translate, etc. all in real-time interactions for project based learning. (This combination of functions are not available on Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook, Skype, etc.).

The fact that these students’ friends or family may not be on G+ as a social network yet is just a small part of the tail / tale. Google and G+ are providing the platform that is facilitating many of the skill sets that students need to get and keep a job today and for the digital and global future.

What Does A Social, Interactive And Collaborative Class Look Like? http://www.dr4ward.com/dr4ward/2012/04/what-does-a-social-interactive-and-collaborative-class-look-like-12-google-plus-gplus-hangouts-with-student-teaching-teams-in.html

Thank you,

Dr. William J. Ward aka DR4WARD Social Media Professor S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications Syracuse University

I don’t think that it’s about users choosing one network for all of the social activities… I think that each one has it’s merits and people will use the most appropriate one of their needs. Facebook, may become a tool for B2C brand communication and peer networking; Twitter will become a news feed and B2B networking tool; Google Plus… well, I think it has discovered the killer social application of the future http://ow.ly/amhl5

Other networks may develop their own video applications, but Hangouts are a compelling reason to stick with G+. I can see their popularity growing within the next 6 months.

And I think the circles concept just doesn’t work. People don’t want circles, don’t want to distinguish classes of “friends”, they just want to be friends with someone and to know that this puts them on equal footing with his or her other friends.

So, scrap the circles thing, lets all just be friends, just like Facebook does, and find other differentiating features to promote the service and attract new members.

I wanted to get into G+, but decided to shorten/initial my legal name. Google wouldn’t allow it, almost demanding I provide my real name. They suspended my account just for wanting some small level of anonymity.

What is that? They are not the DMV or a parole officer. I don’t mind them tracking my movements through their tools, but the idea they, or Facebook, or Twitter, would go an extra step to purposely put my legal name and identity in their searchable monstrosity is offensive. Why should every comment I make on any site be searchable by my own clients, or family, or employers etc. It should not. I believe that is a primary reason few people really go the full enrollment route with them.

All points considered the bottom line is that Google plus is way behind Facebook. What they do have in there favour is a massive search engine and hungry developers eager to integrate the whole social media platform together. Problem is (as you stated) the uptake. Will it ever reach critical mass? I have a website www.ourtechguy.co.uk and have added the G+ button. My services are local and find that google places generates traffic. Optimisation of Google places (I am sure) includes G+ and many other variables in the algorithm. I suggest that web developers, social media marketers and SEO professionals and people like me will be keen to get there customers to join the G+ network for at least that reason. Will they use it? Time will tell.

I have hobbies and interests that my family and friends don’t share. Google Plus is where I engage with other artsy, geeky, nerdy, sci-fi loving kindred spirits – at least that was my hope. I don’t really know how to find G+ friends or “circlers”. Maybe I’m just not trying hard enough? At any rate, I keep my Facebook account open because that’s what all of my family and friends use, but I really would like to trade it in for G+, if I can get enough “circlers” to make it worthwhile. Right now, it’s kind of a ghost town for me.

As far as G+ being the “next Facebook”, I never saw it that way. Google Plus is what it is, and why isn’t that good enough?

Sounds like you are mad that people aren’t commenting enough on your stories? Your previous about how you had no contacts resulted in you getting thousands of them. I guess this is your way of trying to get more comments on your stories?

You are lucky. I can’t even get one follower onto my twitter, tumblr, or google plus circle. I wish I had the spring board to make that change.

I pretty much agree with your post. Def a niche community (one that I think will survive for quite sometime and probably grow to expand other related niches). One of the things that I thought was very cool was the hang outs. It reminds me of our lobby in college, where we’d all stop by on the way in and just chill for a while.

One of the biggest design problems with Google Plus according to me is the notifications system. Every day I see the notification icon that tells me I have something to see, but if I click on it I see the same old, same old, same old list of things! Nothing really new there! I might see something interesting navigating around, poking around… But the notifications system does not at all distinguish between “Unread” and “Read” notifications yet. I don’t need to see every day the same last five people that have “added me back”! I don’t need to see every day that two weeks before another photo was uploaded from my android via instant upload! If I click on a notification and read, it should be marked as read and either no longer appear in my notifications, or at least not be highlighted. There should at least be some sort of highlighting of unread notifications to distinguish them from read notifications. This is one of the reasons I haven’t got too much into Google Plus, and facebook works a lot better from this point of view. Facebook notifications are actual real notifications, something that really happened and that I haven’t seen yet (someone tagged me in a picture, someone commented on a picture / post of mine, a new friend request, etc.).

“If a supposedly tech savvy userbase like Reddit” That’s a false statement. Reddit userbase consist of stupid people trying to act like tech savvy. They get a long run with that reputation by flinging words around “python”, “Rasp pi”, and other stuff they just skim of what they are trying to be(and fail miserably).

I must agree, Google Plus is failed though much of the reason why people rfuse to use it is because it demands that people combine all oftheir Google “products” together under one identity. If you have GMail you have to tie it to AdSense, G+, YouTube, everything that Google controls, one identity is tied to everything, and that is really bad.

Google Plus was supposed to be a viable alternative to Facebook which is becoming ever more Republican fascist however because G+ was late in coming, and because of the way that the Google megacorp has evolved, G+ is also another Republican fascist construct, leaving it even worse than unviable.

The various open sourced public efforts to create a social network like Diaspora hold potential, but they’re not ready yet either and, of course, they also hold the potential for Republica Christian treason.

I cannot believe how Google could not come up with an app to beat FB. I know they started with Orkut which was invitation only and did not pick up at least in US. I think Google has potential but losing it everyday.

Google+ has value besides just being a Social Network. I have setup numerous Google Plus accounts for clients because despite what Google claims, it really does help with search placement. Here is an article that explains why http://envolvesocial.com/articles/2012/11/21/why-google-good-your-business

I agree with the article regarding G+ being a niche. I keep trying to “get” G+ but still don’t.

I have spent many hours (too many) trying to figure out how it works and more importantly to make it work successfully for me. Google Plus is just way too complicated and overwhelming for the average user.

The trouble for G+ is, I am not an average user. I am a technology consultant and very active on social media including several blogs, Twitter, LinkedIn, Tumblr, Facebook, Slideshare, YouTube and Vimeo I can figure all those out pretty easily. Yes, I post on it, but, that’s about it. The whole sharing, pages, circles, friends, followers, hangouts, community, at al is way too much. The KISS principle has clearly been lost on the G+ developers.

Yeah, I read the articles at how much and fast G+ is growing…but, that’s not hard to do now that Google forces all these services on a user that signs up for a Google account.